About me

I am a CITA National Fellow at the University of British Columbia, where I work with the CHIME group. I also serve as chair of the HETDEX Cosmology Science Working Group.

I recently completed my PhD in physics at Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics working with Prof. Eiichiro Komatsu. My research focuses on line intensity mapping, with a particular emphasis on the Lyman-α emission line. Most recently, I detected the galaxy–Lyman-α intensity cross-power spectrum in HETDEX data. — a 15σ detection that represents the most precise line intensity mapping measurement to date.

I have also developed SIMPLE (Simple Intensity Map Producer for Line Emission), a code that rapidly generates intensity maps from lognormal galaxy simulations in redshift space, incorporating observational effects such as limited resolution, masks, and galaxy selection functions. Additionally, I have used SIMPLE to model the effects of Lyman-α radiative transfer on line intensity mapping measurements.

Publications

My publication list can also be found on Inspire (incomplete), SciX (ADS), arXiv, and Google Scholar .

You can find my PhD thesis here.

As first author

  • “Lyα Intensity Mapping in HETDEX: Galaxy-Lyα Intensity Cross-Power Spectrum” – M. Lujan Niemeyer, E. Komatsu et al.; ApJ 999 177; arXiv:2510.11427
  • “Effect of Lyman-α Radiative Transfer on Intensity Mapping Power Spectra” – M. Lujan Niemeyer; ApJ 980 250; arXiv:2407.03060
  • “SIMPLE: Simple Intensity Map Producer for Line Emission” – M. Lujan Niemeyer, J. L. Bernal, E. Komatsu; ApJ 958 4; arXiv:2307.08475
  • “Lyα Halos around [O III]-selected Galaxies in HETDEX” – M. Lujan Niemeyer, W. P. Bowman, R. Ciardullo et al.; ApJL 934 L26; arXiv:2207.11098
  • “Surface Brightness Profile of Lyman-α Halos out to 320 kpc in HETDEX” – M. Lujan Niemeyer, E. Komatsu, C. Byrohl et al.; ApJ 929 90; arXiv:2203.04826

    • As contributing author

  • “HETDEX [OII] galaxies at z ≤ 0.48: Volume-limited Samples and their Power Spectra” – J. Moon, E. Komatsu et al.; arXiv:2607.08453
  • “HETDEX Public Data Release 1: Source Catalog 2 and Data Cubes from ~90 sq deg of Integral-Field Optical Spectroscopy” – E. Mentuch Cooper, K. Gebhardt, D. Davis et al.; ApJS 284 67; arXiv:2606.04208
  • “Lyα Nebulae in HETDEX: The Largest Statistical Census Bridging Lyα Halos and Blobs across Cosmic Noon” – E. Mentuch Cooper, K. Gebhardt, D. Davis et al.; ApJ 1000 38; arXiv:2603.06410
  • “The HETDEX Survey: Probing Neutral Hydrogen in the Circumgalactic Medium of ~88,000 Lyman Alpha Emitters” – M. Mirza Khanlari, K. Gebhardt, L. H. Weiss et al.; ApJ 989 169; arXiv:2507.15942
  • “Using Lyα Absorption to Measure the Intensity and Variability of z ∼ 2.4 Ultraviolet Background Light” – L. H. Weiss, K. Gebhardt, D. Davis et al.; ApJ 983 72; arXiv:2504.13253
  • “Absorption Troughs of Lyman Alpha Emitters in HETDEX” – L. H. Weiss, D. Davis, K. Gebhardt et al.; ApJ 962 102; arXiv:2401.02490
  • “HETDEX Public Source Catalog 1—Stacking 50,000 Lyman Alpha Emitters” – D. Davis, K. Gebhardt, E. Mentuch Cooper et al.; ApJ 954 209; arXiv:2307.03096
  • “HETDEX Public Source Catalog 1: 220 K Sources Including Over 50 K Lyα Emitters from an Untargeted Wide-area Spectroscopic Survey” – E. Mentuch Cooper, K. Gebhardt, D. Davis et al.; ApJ 943 177; arXiv:2301.01826
  • “The Active Galactic Nuclei in the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX). II. Luminosity Function” – C. Liu, K. Gebhardt, E. Mentuch Cooper et al.; ApJ 935 132; arXiv:2207.11801
  • “The Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) Survey Design, Reductions, and Detections” – K. Gebhardt, E. Mentuch Cooper, R. Ciardullo et al.; ApJ 923 217; arXiv:2110.04298
  • “Detection of Lyman Continuum from 3.0 < z < 3.5 Galaxies in the HETDEX Survey” – D. Davis, K. Gebhardt, E. Mentuch Cooper et al.; ApJ 920 122; arXiv:2107.11319

    • Talks

  • Fachbeirat (external advisory board) Seminar at Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics – March 2026
  • Large-Scale Structure Days 2025 – October 2025
  • Line Intensity Mapping 2025 – June 2025
  • HETDEX Collaboration Meeting 2025 – May 2025
  • Line Intensity Mapping 2024 – June 2024
  • HETDEX Collaboration Meeting 2024 – May 2024
  • Alpine Cosmology Workshop – July 2023
  • Present and Future of Line Intensity Mapping Conference – April 2023
  • Invited: The Multiphase CGM Conference – February 2023
  • What Matter(s) around Galaxies conference – September 2022
  • Institute seminar at Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics – May 2022
  • Invited: seminar at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics – March 2022

    • Outreach

    I was recently invited to the Science Tea Time podcast with Caro Matzko. We chatted about cosmology, my PhD project, and how I came to study astrophysics (in German). Parts of our conversation were also broadcast on TV.

    We issued a press release (click here for the German version) for my latest project, the Lyman-α line intensity mapping detection in HETDEX.

    Throughout my PhD, I lead several planetarium shows for students to learn about the research at MPA. I also helped organize the Girl's Day at MPA, where high school students can try out currently male-dominated jobs and learn about astrophysics and cosmology at MPA.

    I also wrote a public science article about my early PhD work on Lyα halos. You can find it here:
    English: Galaxies light up hydrogen halos around neighbouring galaxies;
    Deutsch: Galaxien beleuchten Wasserstoff-Halos benachbarter Galaxien.

    Get in touch

    • Email

      maja_at_phas.ubc.ca

    • Address

      University of British Columbia
      6224 Agricultural Road
      Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
      Canada